Mother backs knife crime memorial

The sculpture when finished will be 20ft (6m) high

The mother of a man who was stabbed to death in a car park has backed a campaign for a national memorial for victims of knife crime.

Trainee accountant Danny Jones, 21, from Chirk near Wrexham, died from a single stab wound from a replica sword.

A sculpture is being created from seized weapons in Oswestry, Shropshire, the town where he died in 2013.

Meanwhile, a north Wales judge said there was huge concern about the number of serious injuries caused by knives.

The British Ironworks Centre is creating the sculpture - Knife Angel - using 30,000 weapons seized from the scenes of crime around the UK.

Mr Jones died in hospital from a single stab wound from an ornamental short sword during an argument with a friend after a night out in Oswestry, Shropshire in April 2013.

His killer was jailed for 12 years for manslaughter.

Danny Jones was involved in an argument with a friend after they had been out drinking in Oswestry

Mr Jones's mother engraves a weapon, which will be part of the sculpture

Mr Jones's mother Lisa McNeill said: "We don't want anyone to go through what we've gone through and what we'll always go through because it's never ending."

Sculptor Alfie Bradley said: "I'm using different contrasting blades and welding them sideways to create the contrast between big Samurai swords, machetes and normal kitchen knives.

"When it's lit up at night time it will have a diamond effect."

Police forces in England and Wales recorded 26,370 violent knife crimes in 2014-15, up from 25,974 the previous year - breaking a downward trend since 2010-11.

'Hugely concerned'

Meanwhile, a judge at Mold Crown Court on Thursday warned about the consequences of knife crime.

Judge Niclas Parry was jailing a Llandudno man for affray and possessing a knife, after a motorist was threatened when he stopped to intervene in a fight outside a pub.

He said it was a volatile incident which could have had catastrophic consequences.

"The public of north Wales are hugely concerned about the number of serious injuries caused by knife crime," he added.